Museum Visitor Falls Into Black Hole

Ignoring signage and common sense, a visitor to the Serralves Museum in Porto somehow was injured when he fell into an art installation, Descent Into Limbo. The installation is an eight-foot-deep hole in the floor of the museum that is painted to resemble a featureless void that appears to have no depth, creating a cartoonish circle of blackness. The mind-bending work is the brainchild of British artist Anish Kapoor, best known for the bean-shaped reflective Cloud Gate in Chicago’s Millenium Park.

Those that view the uncanny work often wonder whether or not there’s a hole in the ground or just paint, like the vertiginous “3D” chalk drawings done on the sidewalk by street artists—or the Road Runner’s Looney Tunes traps for Wile E. Coyote! In this case, one museum visitor fell for the trap—despite the fact that the installation was surrounded by warning signs and staff continued to warn visitors not to approach the pit!

A report from Portugal’s Publico indicates that the unfortunate visitor was an Italian tourist in his 60s. He was briefly hospitalized but appears to have suffered no lasting harm from his headlines-grabbing tumble.

Arin calls Boston, Massachusetts, home and is a huge Red Sox fan. When she’s not enjoying a hot dog at Fenway Park, she’ll be out in nature with her camera. The one thing she can’t live without though, is the Internet. Always one to have a meme in handy, Arin is no slouch when it comes to entertainment and viral videos.